Re: exit status patch for coreutils

[Jim Meyering]

Paul Eggert <address@hidden> wrote:
> Here's a proposed patch that's been lurking in my archives for a
> while.  I audited all the use of exit statuses in coreutils, and found
> some problems.  The worst example:
>
>    $ mkdir d d/e d/e/f
>    $ chmod a-w d
>    $ rmdir -p d d/e/f
>    rmdir: `d': Directory not empty
>    rmdir: `d/e': Permission denied
>    $ echo $?
>    0
>
> The exit status should be 1, not 0.
>
> I also noticed that EXIT_FAILURE might not equal 1, as POSIX does not
> require it.  I recall that it's not 1 on traditional VMS, though I
> don't know if anyone uses coreutils on VMS or OpenVMS or whatever it's
> called these days.  The patch below also addresses this issue, by
> adjusting the documentation slightly and introducing a new symbol
> EXIT_FAIL for when programs want to return 1 even if EXIT_FAILURE
> isn't 1.

Wow.  That was a big one.
I've applied it and added a test for the rmdir bug.
Thank you!